Despite different strategies, Scott Pye and James Courtney finished nose to tail after 120km in Ipswich, with both cars moving forward in the race to finish 13th and 14th.

Qualifying saw Scott put the #2 car in P16, with JC starting out of 19th for the 39-lap race around Queensland Raceway.

Both cars got away cleanly in the middle of a cluster of cars, with the pack going four-wide into turn three.

It didn’t take long for JC to pull up on the rear of Scott who maintained his position of 16th, a view that would become very familiar for the afternoon.

120kms meant that it was always going to be a one stop race, which meant plenty of different strategies to play out.

JC was the first of the two to pit on lap 15 with most of the field.

When he popped out, his race pace was on show, not only setting the fastest lap of the race, but breaking the race lap record.

Scotty went much longer in the first stint, in fact, he was the last of the field to pit on lap 24. That meant he would be on the charge late with fresh rubber.

After popping out 18th, he climbed all the way back to 13th in the closing stages, just running out of laps to pick off the next two cars.

It was another day of progress for the team, with both cars moving forward in the race, both inside the top-15, and both parked up in the garage nice and straight, ready for tomorrow.

While there is still work to be done, today was another step in the right direction.

Sunday in Ipswich brings another qualifying session, before a 200km race around the paper clip.

Scott Pye

“16th was the best we had today in qualifying.

“It was nice to finish happy, getting out of the car at its fastest.

“The 15 laps at the end was good fun, I just wish the next cars up the road were a bit more aggressive.

“It was good to move forward, and there is a bit for the team to work with overnight.”

James Courtney

“We both moved forward in the race which is important.

“Strategy wise we played it very different, ran hot in the middle of the race, and then held on at the end.

“It was good to move forward, the fastest lap in the race is positive, but it was good to move forward and get some form of result.”